2012

We tolerated and turned a blind eye to the predatory practices of the IMF and World Bank as they destroyed national economies by burying them in unserviceable debt. In lieu of payment they then extricated and transferred the assets and resources of the beleaguered nations into their corporate and private coffers.

Now, that the american consumer is no longer needed as producer and consumer the very same strategies and techniques are being used on us to procure, extricate and transfer all of our assets into the personal and corporate coffers of the bankers and financial elite.
The title of this post is taken from a quote attributed to Mike Ditka former player and coach of the Chicago Bears. In a society that fosters and is based upon individual interests, exploitation and capitalization the statement that you get what you tolerate is especially true. A society which fostered and promoted egalitarian and social rights over individual rights would be far more humane and trusting than modern America. Yet, a society that prides itself in the victory of the one over the many is always going to have its icons of success view the masses as its profitable prey.

The US was a nation whose wealth and power was derived from pirates, robber barons and conmen. Since we lived in a ostensible democracy the continued success of these exploitative conmen depended on their obtaining our trust and belief in them. In fact, belief and trust are the trade and currency of the successful conman. It is for this very reason that our perceptual managers and state propagandists groomed us into being a nation of believers trusting in God and Country.

Ever since the government became actively involved in the shaping and influencing of the public mind in quasi-military programs such (Committee on Public Information, Writers War Board, COINTELPRO, etc.) propagandists have capitalized on the interweaving of religious belief and government. It is true that we were a nation founded on religious freedom, yet that freedom was to protect people from being persecuted and harassed for their beliefs. Yet, now the entwinement of belief and government causes those who believe differently than the accepted state beliefs to be threatened, demonized and persecuted.

While the effectiveness of propaganda depends on a certain amount of denial of its existence, the arrogance of those who think they can control the hapless masses causes them to make verbal declarations proudly revealing their true intentions. One such example is the 1981 quote by William J. Casey then director of the CIA stating “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the US public believes is false”.

Currently the state propaganda is trying to convince us that the demise of the American middle class is both inevitable and the fault of the average american. Misinformation and half truths are found everywhere in the pseudo-debate between Democrats and Republicans trying to convince us that economic realities demand our compliance with the loss of our civil liberties, entitlements, worker and consumer protection agencies and our rights to a basic standard and quality of life.

While it is true that some industrial jobs have been lost to nations such as China where workers will work for a fraction of what Americans got paid, it is misleading to think that this is the true cause of the demise of the middle class and industrial base. The fact of the matter is that the US and China continue to dominate in terms of industrial production.

The data is available which shows that then US has enjoyed steady growth in industrial production since WWII. While Japan had and China now shares the stage with the US, the US is still the industrial force. What has decreased is not the amount of production happening in the US, but in the number of jobs and pay. We have not only lost jobs to cheap labor forces abroad, but also cheap domestic labor such as the escalating prison population in for-profit prisons.

Yet, we are losing far more jobs to automation than to any human cheap labor force. The publicity over jobs lost overseas is just a smokescreen to hide the fact that we are losing jobs to machines and robots. Since the birth of mass production most advances in technology reduce the need for human labor. So, while some advances do create jobs they usually remove the need for more jobs than they create.

Years ago the lack of sophistication and autonomy of the machines made it necessary for workers to run and monitor them. In most cases the machines were tools to be used by and for people.

Until recently workers were also necessary as consumes as well as producers. Even as technology advanced and machines became less dependent on people to monitor and fix them, the workers were needed to receive pay to purchase the products being produced. It is still popular to say that consumers make up 70% of the economy, though I doubt if that is any longer true.

There are plenty of fine articles being written about the facts behind both manufacturing and the rise of automation. You could start with The Myth of US Manufacturing Decline by John V. Walsh.

Our vital role as consumer/producers is being attacked on two fronts. One is the whole concept of global marketing in which one makes profits through volume over price (the basic Walmart business model). What this means is that large global corporations can still make increasing profits even as our wages and disposable income dwindle. The second front involves the entire money printing based economy where money printed goes right into the pockets of the 1%.

Each dollar printed and distributed to the few reduces the relative wealth of the 99.9% of the people not receiving the new liquidity. Yet, that isn’t the worst of it. We are paying off all the debts of those “too big to fail” or too wealthy to jail. Each day that this goes on the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich becomes closer to completion.

You may ask what they will do when they have sucked us of our last pennies. Well, the short answer is that there is no limit to IOU’s and they will just position themselves to be in line to get every penny your grandchildren and great grandchildren stand to make. Yet, in all likelihood, automation will make it hard for a job based economy to last anywhere near that long. The logical conclusion is that everything will be owned by a select few and everyone else will be indentured servants or culled in some form or other so as not to waste resources.

In an article entitled Manufacturing Poverty by Cheri Honkala she notes the many ways that disinformation is being used by government and corporate america to pillage the 99 percent in favor of the one percent. Ms. Honkala for those who do not know was the vice-presidential candidate for the Green Party in the last election. The following two paragraphs are from the article.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and affordable housing have been and are now fully funded and paid for through our payroll and income taxes, and are supported by an overwhelming super-majority of voters. They are the property of the American people and the inheritance we have prepared for our children and grandchildren. A “grand bargain” or any other kind of compromise that in any way diminishes or weakens these programs in order to enrich corporations is totally unacceptable.

The idea that America has become so impoverished that it can no longer afford the most elementary necessities of its people is patently absurd. As a nation we are richer and more productive than ever. Despite declining industrial employment, our manufacturing OUTPUT is higher now than it has ever been, thanks to the technological revolution. The attacks on the safety net are deliberate efforts to artificially introduce poverty in the midst of plenty.

In the article Ms. Honkala points out that the major entitlements currently being taken for granted as needing to be cut (both short and long term) are “fully funded and paid for through our payroll and income tax”. So, it is an outright lie to suggest that cutting these entitlements will directly effect the national debt which is at the base of the so called “fiscal cliff”. Elsewhere in the article she notes that “Social Security currently runs a 2.7 trillion dollar surplus, is a separate fund that by law cannot increase the deficit, and in fact has never contributed a penny to the deficit in its entire 77-year history”.

So, in an honest society any discussion of how to reduce the deficit or how to curtail debt would not involve any of the major entitlements and safety nets programs funded by workers and tax payers for their own benefit. The only conceivable goal of putting social security on the auction block is to allow the wealthiest to raid the 2 trillion surplus.

Yet, even if our entitlement programs were to some day become insolvent, what would be gained by cutting them? If people got less money through social security, or no longer used money from previous taxes on their paychecks to help with health care, than where are they going to get money to use as consumers to stimulate the economy? I guess the answer is that they are never supposed to retire or get sick or in their elder years.

If we were able to bail out banks and corporations by printing money and giving out interest free loans, then how come we couldn’t do that to fund or save social security? We could fund and save millions of americans from poverty and suffering at a fraction of the cost that we used to bail out a handful of banks and businesses. Yet, that, of course, could not become part of the dialogue.

We do, as members of the 99+% get what we tolerate. We in general are too busy trying to survive to pay much attention to the devious devices of propaganda and misinformation wielded by the perceptual managers working on the behalf of the economic elite. We are no match for the devious devices of propaganda they contrive with the benefit of endless funds.

After all who is looking out for our interests? Well, the propagandists and government perceptual managers are making sure that all of our support systems and advocates are becoming extinct. According to them all of those people are corrupt and or a threat to our nation and way of life.

Anyone concerned for our health, welfare and protection are just self-serving charlatans or fanatics with no sense of the real world. People protecting the quality of our air, water and food are ignorant at best, and sabotaging our quality of life at worst. Any union or group designed to advocate for our interests at the workplace, are corrupt megalomaniacs who are causing us to lose jobs overseas, and intimidate us into giving up our “right to work”. And who doesn’t know that all lawyers, environmentalists and green merchants are just greedy exploiters who are trying to make a buck.

I read an article recently by a retired union organizer. In it he stated that, “the only purpose for unions was to improve the standard of living of workers”. I would agree that for many that is the premise behind unions, I would also add that unions were designed to also advocate and protect the interests of the labor class.

We live in a representative democracy. Our entire electoral process is built on the idea that our elected officials represent and protect our interests. There is no denying that there has always been corruption in politics and unions. Yet, it seems foolish to respond to such corruption by completely removing the advocate, protector, representative and the peer group for workers and citizens.
The “right to work” movement is in reality the right to go it alone, be enslaved, and the right to have work go to the lowest bidder of services. The end of collective bargaining, and unions is the right for the owners to maximize their profits and minimize their overhead.

The current trend regarding government policies is very clear in its intent to saddle us with unserviceable debt and extricate our remaining assets. We are getting what we are tolerating, and it is amazing how easy it appears for many of us to support the dismantling of our basic rights and standard of living. Each passing day we are allowing our dwindling assets to be taken by the financial elite while at the same time supporting the removal of all our advocates and support systems.

As many of you know the federal reserve is a private cartel of bankers whose wealth and power often are attained at the expense of the 99%. I will end by referencing an article I read which I cannot find who to credit (please write me if you know what article this is taken from). The quote does appear to be from The Big Picture, but that is all I know.

The questions contained are excellent one’s and are deserving of our scrutiny.

Why, for example, would the Fed want to reduce unemployment if high unemployment pushes down labor costs and boosts profits for its corporate constituents? And why would Bernanke want to rev-up the economy when the ongoing crisis creates the rationale for gutting social programs and slashing public spending? And why would the Fed want to normalise interest rates, when the low rates force savers and retirees on fixed income back into the stock market, while–at the same time– provide unlimited sums of money to the banks at zilch cost to themselves?

The wretched state of the economy is no accident. It is by design. And it’s easy to figure out who’s benefiting from the present arrangement by tracing the torrent of capital that flows upwards to the corporate boardrooms and off-shore hideaways where the 1% stash their loot. Check this out: “Corporate profits as a share of GDP is at an all-time high while wages and salaries are at all-time lows“, The Big Picture)

Most people have heard many times that the Fed has “injected liquidity into the market” and that we frequently make efforts to increase the “velocity” of money. We also have been barraged by a number of “bubbles” including the housing bubble and the tech bubble to mention but two of the more popular bubbles. So, one of the better images which captures “liquidity”, “velocity” and “bubbles” would be a bubble bath. Let’s take these elements of a bubble bath as a means of understanding our modern economy.

Okay, imagine, if you will, a large tub being filled with water and interacting with bath suds which we will call “stimulus” and “financial instruments” designed to produce increased wealth and financial activity. The water rushing from the faucet is the liquidity being added to the economy. The more we turn the knob up the more intense the velocity of the money being entered into the tub/economy.

Taking this image a step further we can say that interaction of “policies” and financial instruments as well as practices such as “flipping” in the housing industries cause the water to foam and form bubbles. Probably the largest producers of foam is the practice of derivatives and fractional banking.

So, the one ingredient missing in our analogy is debt. Debt is like the plug being removed from the bottom of the tub so that while “liquidity” is being entered into the bath the actual water level is not rising. So, the more debt the quicker the tub drains and the more liquidity with great velocity is needed to keep the tub from completely draining.

Therefore, the real economy of the people, represented by three inches of water in the tub has changed little over the last decade, and if anything, has actually shrunk a little towards the two inch mark. Yet, the foam caused by the interaction of derivatives and financial instruments with all the liquidity being injected (poured) into the market at amazing velocity and volume continues to rise and rise.

While the foam get frothier and frothier the underlying water level does not keep up with the debt draining the water out of the tub. When money borrowed, loaned or printed actually stimulates the economy and generates growth the level of the water rises and not just the foam.

In a healthy economy someone creates a $1.50 of growth in GDP for every dollar borrowed. This would be similar to our economy in the 1950’s. In the 80’s we began to fall behind where it took 5 or 6 dollars of borrowed money to generate one dollar of growth, hence the steady rise in the national debt we incurred during the Reagan years. Well, those day now seem golden in comparison where we probably need to borrow/print somewhere north of $20 to generate a dollar of actual growth.

Derivatives and the QE’s are forms of trying to increase the velocity of money to somehow get past the inertia of the existing mountain of debt. Yet, these “stimulus” packages and endless money printing are only creating more debt (bathtub leaks) and more froth (bubbles) like the bond bubble.

When people look at our current absurd economic situation (and system) they wistfully harken back to a time when money was pegged to a commodity of real value such as the gold standard. Yet, while having a gold standard is a tad more rational, it still ignores the fact that any form of money is arbitrary and a fiction. There is no inherent and stable value to anything, even gold. So, the title of this post is a little deceiving since money can never be or become real. Yet, we surely could make it much more tangible and practical.

The viewpoint that gold has tremendous intrinsic value is quite popular. Also I’ve heard it said many times that gold is a very vital, important and practical substance, and not just alluring and mystical. Yet, if gold were truly valuable and functionally important than how could we afford to house the majority of gold in vaults and buildings? If it were a vital and inherently valuable substance than you think its isolation and removal from functioning society would prove difficult or harmful.

Yet, at the moment I would like to talk about some of the trends regarding luxurious foam production and its ramifications of the average american and the shrinking american middle class. In reality there is a national bathtub, and then each individual and corporation has their own private bathtub.

The money being printed and the great velocity of water of printed money is finding its way into a very small number of bathtubs. These corporations and individuals bath tubs are being inundated with luxurious mountains of foam, and while the foam is frothy, it still can be popped down to quite a considerable amount of water.

The banks, corporations and financial elite not only get all of this water poured into their tubs, but they get low interest rates which have the water drain out of their tubs at a much slower pace. If this wasn’t bad enough for the rest of us, they have the Fed buy and transfer much of their debt into public debt causing the national bathtub to drain all the more quickly while it doesn’t receive the same pouring of water into its tub. The Fed and the government expect the recipients of this free water to create jobs and in this way disperse the water to our individual tubs.

So, while the personal tubs of the fraction of one percent get water and a better plug, the national tub gets almost no water and the leaks and drains become enlarged. The low interest rates make it easy for the wealthy to pay back their loans, and the little guys either can’t get a loan, or get them at much higher interest rates.

The transfer of bad debt from banks, corporations and wealthy individuals to the public makes the national bathtub drain all the more quicker while it isn’t receiving more water from neither the Federal Reserve nor the government. In fact, the government is now saying that we no longer have any rights to the money they took out of our paychecks for programs such as social security, and will gradually turn off that faucet.

Our individual bath tubs are no better than the national bathtub as personal debt rises while wages do not keep up with inflation. Not only are the corporations and wealthy not sharing their windfalls and bailouts through job creation or positive economic activity but are hoarding the money and taking jobs abroad.

In my next post I’ll discuss the ways in which the losing of jobs to China and the third world is a false flag regarding the cause of our economic and employment woes.

We humans seem to be fond of engaging in half thoughts which due to their nature are blind to their implications and ramifications. While entertaining incomplete ideas is both convenient and somewhat inevitable the crazy part is we often choose these partial thoughts to form the cornerstone and bedrock of how we define and view life.

Due to our dependence on these beliefs and incomplete thoughts we often adopt fundamental ideas on the essence of human existence which are inherently contradictory if not mutually exclusive to each other or to our expereince of life.

Our ideas regarding capital “T” Truth is one example. While science and religion may argue who is the actual custodian of the Truth, they both seem to share the same basic idea on Truth. Truth, in both realms deals explicitly or implicitly with certainty. In most cases this uncontestable certainty is professed to be eternal. Many believe that something can only claim to be True if it is an expression of universal law. Truth founded on universal law can pertain to both physical and moral matters. Truth based in eternal law is the very definition of certainty.

One of the fundamental Truth’s of both science and religion is in the fact that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. In religion it shows up in phrases such “as you sow so shall your reap”and in the concept of Karma, while in science it is the essence of not only the theory of relativity but is found in Isaac Newtons laws of motion. Viewing the universe as one big predetermined and self-functioning machine has been a rather persistent Truth for much of man’s history.

In religion you don’t have to believe in reincarnation to be a proponent of predestination. Most monotheistic religions or those involving a creator have a tendency to make the creator perfect and infalliable. The creation itself has an inner design and purpose which must be played out and fulfilled.

A perfect god can only create a perfect world and there can be no room for surprises in the execution of his infinite wisdom and knowledge. The monotheistic god is a perfect and absolute god, and therefore, by definition, a compete and total god lacking nothing.

The world formed by an absolute prefect creator has little room for chance or free will. Likewise, a universe based on cause and effect has no room for accidents. In both cases life is fated and predetermined. If all is cause and effect than all is fated and predetermined. In the mechanical world of universal law of Einstein or Newton all action is fated by the execution of the laws that apply to every action. In such a mechanical world of certainty and Truth is there room for inventive action or free thought?

In the world of religion and science, of certainty and truth, all life is just on giant script that plays out ad infinitum. If every action has an opposite and equal reaction, then what choice do I have than to respond to every stimuli in the way that has been planned out?

The contradictory role of free will is demonstrated in the creation stories such as Adam and Eve, Gilgamesh and many others. These stories all feature the fall of man to explain man’s misfortune as he destroys the perfect Eden in which he was cast. Yet, how else could man exhibit his free will but to disobey or disregard the laws of the creator? If he followed the script without fail he would never assert his identity. Only by an ad lib could man distinguish and separate himself from god. Yet, if god is perfect, than any deviation from his will is impossible or a sin.

So, in the world of Truth and certainty there is no room for free will and choice. In the world of cause and effect and universal law, all is predestined and any feeling of choice or free will is an illusion.

How does one rectify the concept of an expanding universe with the status quo of relativity? How does one find a logical basis for human creativity, error, problem solving or choice? How does one even explain how a human created from a perfect god could even entertain the idea of thinking and deciding on his own? The answer to these questions seems to be that they don’t. There is no explanation since these implications and ramifications of the original half thoughts are never explored.

Yet, despite this logical conclusion both science and religion seem to claim that humans have a free will and can and do make choices. In the world of half thoughts all is possible even when it is logically impossible and inconsistent. The goal of these half thoughts was to create a world of certainty and Truth. Additional thoughts are judged and valued by their ability to support and prove certainty and Truth. Inconsistencies are glossed over in the case of religion by mystery, and belief. In science inconsistencies are avoided by collecting data, devising theories and engaging in experiments which support one horn of the dilemma at a time.

The real irony is that while cerrtainty and Truth were devised to provide life with meaning, they (when fully explored and thought through) actually strip and deprive life of meaning. While concepts such as purpose and responsibility are akin to certainty and Truth, meaning is more suited to a flawed and finite human existence.

In a world of certainty and Truth there are expectations, in a world of meaning there is growth, development and progress. When one discovers the Truth one’s journey is over, if one finds the answer to life there are no more questions. Yet, human life derives its joy and meaning from a journey never complete, from never ending layers and perspectives to uncover and explore.

In my book, Exploring Intimacy, which you can read on this site, I explore the rich and inexhaustible process of becoming increasingly familiar with life, knowledge, yourself and others. Becoming intimate with something is not a one way street of getting physically closer to, but an endless array of perspectives both telescopic and microscopic of isolated and in context. Life could be lived for centuries and not be exhausted. Purpose, certainty and Truth are fairly one dimensional while meaning is onmideminsional and indefatigable.

The fear which seems to motivate the need for Truth is that without certainty life would become meaningless and chaotic. A universe without law is considered random and unliveable. Yet, in reality the choice is not binary, It is isn’t a case of either or.

The space between certainty and chaos is not empty ether, but rather one teeming with real life. It isn’t the conceptual ideal world of Truth or Platonic Ideals, rather the real lived world of flesh, feeling and thought. Between certainty and chaos lies the enire world of probability, pattern, chance, intimacy, growth, creativity and opportunity.

The following chart is my attempt at making a clearer distinction between certainty/truth and meaning/intimacy. As you can see I started with contrasting purpose and meaning, but many of the other terms listed below could have headed each column. The words in each column are not a point by point contrast with the words in the other column. Yet, I do feel it gives you a pretty good feeling for the two basic ways of being and living in the world.

Please read each column and see which one feels more like the world you would want to live. Which one promises the most joy and satisfacrtion?

Yet, for me the beauty is in the fact that at each moment we are able to choose which way we are framing and coloring our experience. In my life, I have found the right hand column more to my liking.

As our election process degrades further and further into voting for the lesser of two evils, I urge all to vote Bubonic Plague. Since this year’s opponent (Small Pox) has a far superior kill rate to the plague and those who survived small pox were usually grossly disfigured or handicapped, I see little choice but to vote Bubonic Plague. So, while I’m no big fan of the plague I decided not to “waste my vote” for some vaguely healthy third party which has no chance of winning and instead cast my vote for the plague. My vote is more accurately a vote against small pox, and I join the huge chorus of people who chant “anything but small pox” as their campaign slogan.

The US presidential elections have become a total farce in which neither candidate’s policies reflect the will of the people, but rather the uber-wealthy. It is absurd that in a representative democracy we are not offered a candidate whose central policies are aligned with the wishes of the vast majority of its citizens. In poll after poll it is common that over 60 to 70 % of democrats and republicans preferences are in direct opposition to the policies of the candidates regarding the economy, education, bail outs, military involvement, the budget, privacy, civil liberties, government and corporate transparency and public health. The differences between the candidates are dwarfed by their similarities. While both of their positions on key issues clearly on the opposite side of the public will.

Let me try one more image in an attempt to capture the utter absurdity of this presidential election. Politicians are defined as and referred to as public servants. Let’s imagine that our nation is one huge restaurant and we are hiring (electing) a cook. In this analogy the pubic opinion polls act as a menu of entrees, appetizers, etc. which we want the restaurant to serve. We, the people, have requested an extensive menu with a point of emphasis of cutting down on fat and offering healthy eating options.

Yet, now the final two cooks vying for the position are offering us menus with not a single item on them which we had suggested or requested. Add to this fact that the menus are doninated by fatty red meats, rich sauces, and generally cholesterol laden foods. First of all, one has to question the interview process of how out of all the cooks available these became the finalists. Then, we need to question the sanity of the restaurant owners (voters) to actually hire one of these arrogant clowns who refuse to cook what we ask and to respect our health requirements.

Hell these are not servants but executioners. I know that the words executive and executioner have the same etymological roots, but who would think that the “executive branch” and “the highest executive officer” (president) would become our executioner. The president of the US is the only public servant hired (elected) by the entire populace. How can we accept that this servant is ignoring and in so many ways opposing our will, requirements and wishes?

Our elected leaders are becoming our executioners in the indirect fashion in that they are ignoring our healthy policy menu and cooking up their own dishes (policies) that endanger and kill us. Yet, their role as potential executioners has become more literal and direct than the public servant cook image suggests.

With president Obama’s demonstrating total disregard for the constitution by signing into law the ability for the president of the US to imprison american citizens indefintely without trial, and execute anyone (even citizens) due to his personal assessment that they are a danger to the state, we now live in a country that has legalized tyranny. The president now has as much legal power as any ruthless king or tyrant has ever had.

While this may not be a new thing for most nations, who have had kings and tyrants imprison and execute perceived threats to the state, it is new for the US. Most nations have outgrown such savagery and realized that this power is inevitably abused with utlimately many people being killed due to only their words, principles, or a resistance to implement and support power gone awry.

This is not to say that the US’s history in regard to the abuse of power is free from blemish. We’ve had our witch hunts literally and figuratively in which people have been imprisoned and executed unjustly. Yet, in almost every case there still was due process such as a trial even if the trial were a farce.

In our country’s recent history with the Red Scare of the 50’s, the maltreatment of the Japanese/American citizens during wartime, and some of our anti-Muslim actions of today we do demonstate our baser natures. Yet, in these examples, for the most part, people were imprisoned or their careers ruined through the legal process or a form of mob rule.

What is important to realize is that this is the first time in history in which we have bestowed upon an individual the power to violate the constitution, due process, and the rights of the individual which are the very basis of the republic. I can only think of one other example in our nation’s history in which one individual was given by the community the right to execute citizens without a trial or official charges due to that person being perceived as a dangerous threat.

The executioner I’m thinking of is The Grand Wizard of the KKK. Maybe, I’m wrong, but this is the only example I can think of where someone is sanctioned by the community to make a unilateral decision to execute an individual without a need for trial or formal charges being addressed. The Grand Wizard was able to make the determination that a person (usually black) was a danger or threat to our way of life and therefore worthy of being executed.

I am not equating our president’s new powers with the value system of a KKK Grand Wizard, I am only stating that this is the closest form of total power functioning outside the law that even a portion of us have sanctioned or allowed to exist. What would have happened if this power of the president were available during the Red Scare, the 60’s demonstrations, civil and womens rights, women’s suffrage, many workers rights movements, and any number of other social movements which were deemed as a threat to our nation and our way of life by some of our leaders. We know that many of our presidents have had public enemy lists which have included outspoken celebrities, artists, writers, political activists, or ordinary citizens who supported ideas that the president found offensive or dangerous. Individuals such as John Lennon, Marin Luther King, Mohammad Ali, Charlie Chaplin, Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky and Jane Addams would have made many presidents lists of people who were public enemies, threats to the state, or terrorists.

The list of dangerous people to the state has always included a number of people on the forefront of social change and/or who are questioning power and the status quo. Some of the darkest moments of the history of many nations involved royalty and leaders who have imprisoned and executed people based on such a list.

There are many reports out that Obama is adding to his “kill list” on an almost daily basis. The very thought of any president being able to act on this list without any accountability or checks and balances is frightening indeed.

Neither candidate is opposed to this new law of imperial power, so no matter who you vote for today you will be electing a man of unilateral power who can execute or imprison anyone that they find distasteful. We aren’t so much electing a president of a representative democracy as a grand wizard of a hate and fear dominated community.

Do you feel a sense of impending doom? Do you think that human beings are incapable of world peace? Do you feel that there is a substantial difference in the two political parties? Do you trust corporate media and mistrust alternative media? Do you think people are truly better dead then Red and that the war on terrorism is more of a threat than is corporate globalism? Do you support imperialism and view the impoverished as lazy and deserving of suffering and starvation? Are you convinced that only your nation is good and all others are evil? Than you might find some relief from the anger and bitterness with a visit to guidoworld.

Ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for social intercourse and increased intimacy.

At guidoworld you find novels which emphasize the lives of good people trying to do the right thing. Lyrics and songs which challenge and uplift one’s spirits. Essays and books which reconnect us with the wonder, beauty and awe of human life. All portrayed with the honesty and compassion required to inspire us to make the world a better place for everyone.

Join the thousands who have come to guidoworld for temporary and in many cases lasting relief from pessimism, denial and cultural and spiritual elitism. Maybe your story will be like these satisfied customers.

My husband Chuck use to watch Fox News every waking minute. This often resulted in tirades of anger, hatred, and intolerance of other viewpoints. Within ten visits to guidoworld Chuck became a new man, humble, loving and compassionate and appreciative of the gift of life. It is so wonderful to see Chuck interested in the ideas and experiences of others as well as relishing in each and every opportunity to add joy to everyone’s life.

My wife Harriet use to complain about how close minded and blindly defensive the supporters of George Bush were, but once Obama was in office she couldn’t see how she was doing the same thing but only from the other side of the fence. Her excuses for and support of endless wars, predatory drones, sanctions, torture, and bank bailouts as well as Obama’s increase of executive powers at the expense of civil and personal rights were difficult to stomach. Yet, now after guidoworld she is once again the compassionate, empathetic socially conscious woman that I fell in love with. Thank you guidoworld for restoring her vision as well as her heart.

Come visit guidoworld it is free, safe and effective when used as directed. Your results may vary.

Side effects include existential angst, righteous indignation, conspiratorial ideation, empathetic sorrow, ethical regret, global compassion, social consciousness, critical thinking, a decrease in selfishness, and a preoccupation with one’s quality of life.

Additional side effects include nausea as a response to the financial elite and their perceptual managers, sensitivity to bullshit and a craving for intimacy.

Visits to guidoworld may cause a sudden drop in gullibility, or a dramatic increase in compassion.
For insurrections lasting more than four hours please contact your therapist. Please do not visit guidoworld when under the influence of artificial stimulants.

I’ve been amazed at how often I hear it said in the corporate media that this election is the most important choice in our nation’s history. This type of hyperbole seems way over the top especially when you consider how incredibly similar the policies of Romney and Obama are. While they may have distinct images their parties might take a microscopic analysis to find any significant differences in their goals and methods.

I can not recall any incumbent who has abandoned, neglected and abused his voter base and platform as much as Obama has. His actions in office have been stunning in their blatant support of the military/industrial complex, the 1%, and the financial industry. You add on to this his stripping of personal rights, privacy and civil liberties as he expands the powers of the executive branch way beyond any previous president.

Obama seems quite confident that his voter base will excuse or ignore his actual policies and vote for him because of his personality and that his opponent is the poster boy for the 99%’s perception of the 1%.

We have become a nation of righteous military zealots who believe that might makes right and that any nation who even mildly differs from us is evil and deserving of sanctions, torture, forced regime change, stealth attack, and annihilation. We now have a president who can decide to imprision any person indefinitely without any proof of guilt or even of a specific accusation. Yet, these imperial powers don’t end there. The president now can have any person executed without trial, permissoin from congress, or legal recourse if the president labels them as a terrorist or a threat to the state.

Romney and the Republican party try to paint Obama as being soft, a socialist, and other stereoypic terms reserved for the most leftist liberals. If this is soft, I’d hate to see what a real hawk looks like. There was a brief moment in the campaign where the Republicans made a specific accusation that Obama was too soft on immigration. Well a quick look at Obama’s actual record regarding deportation, the forced splitting of immigrant families, etc. made it obvious that it was better to keep the accusations vague in order to not reveal Obama’s ultra conservative policies.

Romney’s attacks on Obamacare likewise had to be vague and eventually die out since both of their medical plans were written by the same people and were all but identical.

The truth of the matter is that this election is historically important to see if the perceptual managers have succeeded in making this seem like a real choice between radically opposed idealogies. The perceptual managers want to know if they can help voters ignore the reality of four years of policies and actions opposed to their interests and still vote for a man based on perceptual and blatant dishonesty.

With the increased knowledge of the fact that the presidential debates are highly scripted and controlled by both candidates, it becomes the perfect challenge for the perceptual managers to see if they can still get people to take the election process seriously. This is like getting people to believe in the wizard of oz after the curtain has been pulled back. And from my seat in the arena it seems like they are succeeding.

In the debates even the candidates had a hard time hiding and in fact often admitting the similarity of their viewpoints regarding foreign policy (they love war), economics (business friendly, plan on dismantling social security, etc.), justice (keep putting more in jail but provide complete amnesty for white collar criminals), ethics (expand sanctions, drones, torture, and ignore/violate all international law) an the endless war of terror and generally avoid any mention or tangible discussion regarding poverty, the national debt, automation, military expenditures, personal rights, and need for increased transparency of government, financail and corporate entities.

Voting in this election is admitting you’re willing to cast a ballot for candidates whose major policies are more often than not diametrically opposed to your own. Poll after poll show that significant percentages of Americans are opposed to the policies and actions of our government in everything from the economy, to military engagement, to domestic affairs. Neither party includes in their platform or their talking points the view or the priorities of the public at large.

The public voice is being ignored and we are again being asked to go further and further down the road of voting for the lesser evil. A non vote here may be the most honest, honorable and courageous thing to do this election.

The perceptual managers want to know how far they can take this, and how much loyalty they can muster from a voter base being abused, deceived and manipulated. A non vote is letting them know that you are not buying it any more, and maybe that you are not going to tolerate the game as it is. At some point in time it would be nice if we took a stand and said we are tired of the deteriorization of our rights, freedoms, choices, quality of life and standard of living.

Maybe you will be like me and say, that I am a voter in search of a real candidate. Someone who represents some of my views and cares about people as much as I do.

I refuse to be bullied and guilted into fearing and hating everyone who does not agree with the imperialistic actions of a nation which more often embarasses or morally disgusts me rather than make me proud.

In the sixties it became common to ask “what if they gave a war and nobody came?” Maybe today the question could be “what if they gave an election and nobody voted?”

A vote in this election is vote of confidence in the con men. It is saying we no longer care what our nation is doing to us or to the rest of the world. It is saying “come on take all my money, my freedom and my dignity, I can take it.” I’m not so sure you can take it, but I’m pretty confident they will.

Jim Guido

PS I forgot to mention another little election tid bit which found its way into the news and is indicative of how far our media and democratic pricniples have fallen, and that is that former president Jimmy Carter is on record as saying that the US election process is corrupt and inefficient. He had earlier praised the Venezuelan election and ballot counting process as being state of the art and exemplary. This is the same Venezuela that the US corporate press and our government tried to portray as corrupt during their recent election of Chavez who was also described as a communist and a dictator rather than the elected leader of a conscientious democracy.

He needed passion more than understanding
No matter how he showed or said it
it remained doggedly unclear

She was in his head
What he wanted was to be in her body
To infuse her with his playful desire

To her love was romantic, a perfect ideal
For him passion was just a thin membrane away from complete fusion

She dreamt of a child
He yearned for intimacy
She envisioned them as parents and partners
He viewed the viscerally shared as the root of all meaning

She sought harmony, an unblemished life
A personal eden bereft of conflict
Her eternal goal was to be a still pond
No ripples to disturb its presentation

She sought beauty everywhere
In thought, word, sight, smell and touch
She found beauty everywhere
Yet, in her man, not so much

He thrived on life’s imperfections
Problems were challenges and opportunities
He loved the grit and the sweat
The joy of a challenge met

He saw intimacy as the measure of one’s life
Each new experience as a gift
Immersed in the rough and tumble of existence
Sharing with her was his bliss

In her relations:
Harmony over honesty
Ease over disease
Calm as endless balance

Beauty was the handmaiden of love
It was what made life attractive
Beauty is what drew her to others
To nature, art and the sacred

He wore each new wrinkle as a badge of honor
Sensed ardor often was born from the arduous
That one often had to provoke to be provocative
and wisdom was more about the real than the ideal

She sees life through the lens of love and beauty
He through the lens of history and experience
Beauty she fashioned into life’s ideal
Intimacy he saw as the measure of one’s life
Beauty became her life’s purpose and zeal
Intimacy was all he asked of life

Is there sufficient beauty in intimacy?
The fate of this love may be dependent on it

The following is a poem I wrote sometime earlier this year which I hope you enjoy and pass on to those who might appreciate its sentiments. I never tire of celebrating the wonder of life and living.

The Distance of Intimacy

the shroud that separates
becomes a gossamer like membrane
where touch is the medium of union
retaining the faintest of distance
an evanescent vestige
permitting intimacy this side of fusion

intimacy is the template
to be used liberally
with all of life
all our senses touch
probe….
as we offer our bodies
to be touched
by the world in which we breath
and exhale ourselves back into its manifold
in endless permutations
of it and me

From where does my voice come
if not from this thin membrane
which makes individual experience possible
and union an orgasmic urge
There are no set boundaries
just expansion and contraction
of intermingled air
and reciprocal movement
I accomodate life
as it accomodates me

What heresy
is the absolute
infinity and the eternal
What beauty
is contained in fragility
in birth and in death
experience forever articulated
but never exhausted nor complete
a process we are gifted to participate in
and to appreciate
yet like gosamer
life’s beauty
lies in its fleeting fragility

Life creates gossamer
Shrouds are of our making
either by over emphasizing our individuality
or by creating infinite distance inherent
in ideas such as immortality and the absolute
Destiny too is a shroud
a thick covering
which while it insulates and protects
destroys individuality and choice
that gives joy to the dance
of me, you and the world
I breathe I exhale
I see, I am seen
I touch and am touched
and the world undulates
and I am so moved

My last post regarding the uber-wealthy and Obama was a tad long and probably a little confusing. Shortly after posting it I found a few articles of people smarter and more articulate than myself discussing similar themes and making similar points. I thought it would be nice to post some of their ideas and add a few of my thoughts to them.

The first article I read in either Counterpunch or Zerohedge, but I’m sorry to say I have no record of the author. If you know who wrote this let me know so that I can cite the article and author.

…….The picture presented by the report as of the end of last year, more than three years since the Wall Street crash and three full years after the coming to power of the Obama administration, was one of increasing social distress for the masses of people and expanding wealth for those at the very top. Nevertheless, the Obama administration seized on the fact that the poverty rate remained unchanged from 2010 to hail the report as a vindication of its policies.

Aside from the callous indifference to the plight of the working class reflected in such statements, they do contain an element of truth. The social disaster reflected in the findings of the Census report is not simply the result of impersonal economic forces, but very much the outcome of the policies of the Obama administration, whose entire focus from day one has been to protect and increase the wealth of the US corporate elite at the expense of the majority of the population.

Even as he expanded the bailout of Wall Street begun under Bush, Obama rejected out of hand any government programs to create jobs—such as public works projects—or any serious measures to provide relief to the unemployed, those facing foreclosure or the shutoff of utilities, or the growing ranks of the poor and malnourished.

On the contrary, he oversaw the destruction of nearly 700,000 government jobs and brutal cuts in social services.

I like the above article for its pointing out factually how Obama has not only neglected but worked against the middle class and unemployed, while serving the interests of the wealthiest of Americans.

The following is from an article by ROBERT HUNZIKER entitled Tax Free Capitalism

According to a recent extensive study (July 2012) conducted by James Henry, former chief economist of McKinsey & Company, the wealthy elite have up to $32 Trillion stashed away in offshore tax havens. This is twice the size of the U.S. economy, and remarkably, the James Henry Analysis excluded ownership of tangibles like RE, yachts, fancy cars, and entire islands (metaphorically speaking, those hidden assets comprise the largest economy in the world… a tax-free economy… a pure libertarian nation-state.)

Wow, talk about your free lunch, not to mention breakfast, dinner and every meal for your family for generations to come. Does anyone really believe that in the age of homeland security and total surveillance that our government is totally unaware of where exactly the majority of that money is? This is indicative of more that the government turning a blind eye, this must be done with the blessings of the IRS and the highest levels of our government and economic oversight.

When it comes to pointing out Corporate malfeasance and corporate abuse of the tax payer there is no better voice than Ralph Nader who recently wrote:

The Full Romney

by RALPH NADER

There was something missing from the release of a tape showing Mitt Romney pandering to fat cats in Boca Raton, Florida with these very inflammatory words: “There are 47 percent who are with him, (Obama) who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. These are people who pay no income tax.” Romney said his job “is not to worry about those people.”

Hey, Mitt, why start with the 47 percent? Fully 100 percent of the nation’s 500 biggest corporations are dependent on various kinds of corporate welfare – subsidies, giveaways, bailouts, waivers, and other dazzling preferences – while many pay no tax at all on very substantial profits (see their familiar names – General Electric, Pepco, Verizon etc. – at http://www.ctj.org/pdf/notax2012.pdf).

In lock step with my observation that Obama best serves the interests of the uber-wealthy and the imperialistic globalists there is the following:

Crown Obama: It’s Over

by BEN SCHREINER

It ought, though, to be no surprise to see the elite come back home to Obama. As Glen Ford has rightly argued, Obama is not so much the lesser evil, but the “more effective evil.” That is, Obama has proven to be the best face for American capitalism—the most reliable curator for the interests of American capital. The articulate, black, charming, and ostensibly liberal Obama has demonstrated in four years to be the best man to lead the coming frontal assault on Social Security, Medicare, and public education. Just as Obama has proven over four years of indefinite detention and expanded drone warfare to be a most adept administrator of U.S. imperialism.

The above article articulates well how Obama is the man who has put a smily face on Big Brother. The following article notes how incredibly misrepresented is our military’s success regarding the drone program which Obama both touts and expanded.

Heading for a Hollow Victory

by DEEPAK TRIPATHI

Another investigation, this time by academics of Stanford and New York universities, puts the blame on President Obama for the the escalation of CIA drone attacks in which groups are selected by remote analysis of “pattern of life.” The “dominant narrative about the use of drones in Pakistan is of a surgically precise and effective tool that makes the US safer by enabling ‘targeted killings’ of terrorists.” But the report concludes that “this narrative is false.” The number of ‘high-level’ militants as a percentage of total casualties is only about 2% of [deaths]. “The US practice of striking one area multiple times, and evidence that it has killed rescuers, makes both community members and humanitarian workers afraid or unwilling to assist injured victims.” Residents in remote tribal areas across the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier are “afraid to attend weddings and funerals.”

Imagine living in a country where drone attacks are so frequent that you are afraid of attending public functions out of fear of being attacked or killed by unmanned machines.

One of the points I was trying to make in my last post is how easy it is for Obama to play off of his false image and take us down the road of total wealth and power for the economic elite and poverty and serfdom for the rest of us. The following succinct observation by Paul Craig Roberts says it so well.

Apparently, Americans are the first people in history who are so idealistic, or so thoroughly brainwashed, that they prefer to pay for wars and bail out banks than to make their mortgage payments and help their children with student loan debt. Paul Craig Roberts

Zero Hedge is a site full of important statistics and economic commentary. The following article cited a article which clearly explains how the Federal Reserve’s efforts to keep interest rates at historic lows for the foreseeable future is having a devastating effect on not only retirees but anyone hoping to save a little money. in particular this article shows how these policies are bringing on the demise of social security and forcing it to either be privatized or forced into bankrupcy.

By law, all money deposited in the Social Security trust fund must be invested in U.S. government securities.

The average rate of interest earned by the Social Security trust fund has declined from 6.1 percent in January 2003 to 3.9 percent today, and it is going to continue to go even lower as long as the Fed continues to keep interest rates super low.

The following is one example of how the low interest rate policies of the Fed have completely devastated the retirement plans of many elderly Americans….

You can understand the impact of the invisible tax on the elderly by watching the decline of interest income from $50,000 invested in a five-year Treasury obligation. As recently as 2000, this would have yielded about 6.15 percent and an interest income of $3,075 a year. Now the same obligation is yielding 0.7 percent and an interest income of $350 a year. This is the lowest yield on this maturity of Treasury debt since the Federal Reserve started keeping an index of the yields in 1953.

But it’s more than a low interest rate. It’s an income decline of nearly 89 percent in just 12 years.

And after you account for inflation, those that put money into savings accounts today are actually losing money.

Sadly, the truth is that the Social Security trust fund might not even make it into the next decade. Most Social Security trust fund projections assume that there will be no recessions and that there will be a very healthy rate of growth for the U.S. economy over the next decade.

Returning to the theme of how Obama may be just another Bush or Romney in hip or populist clothing we have :

Mitt’s Bad Week

by ROB URIE

It was Spring of 2010, less than a year after the official end of the last recession but still deep in the throes of the Great Recession, that Barack Obama’s ‘deficit commission’ met for the first time. With close to twenty-five million people unemployed or underemployed and the number living in extreme poverty rising quickly, Mr. Obama’s central economic concern was cutting government spending. ‘Entitlements,’ rather than bankers, militarists and tax cheats, were bankrupting the country. And the co-Chairs of the commission he appointed had the solution: cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and corporate taxes and reduce government regulation of business.

With the faux surprise and opportunistic rants that met Mitt Romney’s 47% ‘dependent / victims’ comments, who noticed that none in his audience challenged them? And who among those who have read similar statements (link) from Barack Obama’s ‘deficit’ commission believes that Mr. Obama’s big-money supporters are of different mindsets than Mr. Romney’s? It was these very same people in Mr. Romney’s audience who Barack Obama had dedicated his first term in office to serving. And in fact, Mr. Romney’s comments were only the proverbial tip of the iceberg when it comes to the divergent descriptions of reality that the ruling class adheres to……

The self-satisfied declamations against Mr. Romney’s comments by Democrats and their supporters depend on near complete ignorance of Mr. Obama’s actual policies while in office. Who in Mr. Romney’s audience, including Mr. Romney, benefited from the unconditional bank bailouts that Obama Generals Geithner, Summers and Bernanke orchestrated? Who among them stand to benefit from Mr. Obama’s top-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement that seals the power of international capital over labor and environmental regulations? And who among them stand to benefit from Mr. Obama’s build-out of the domestic infrastructure of surveillance, policing and the legal framework needed to crush rebellion? As Mitt Romney is in the process of demonstrating, it is clearly Barack Obama who is the more effective tool for promoting ruling class interests.

In previous posts I’ve noted how I’ve been a voter in search of candidate for a few decades now. On many occasions I’ve rued the fact that neither party even comes close to espousing a single policy that harmonizes with my core values and humanitarian ethics. The following article says it all so well.

Neither Candidate

by BILL QUIGLEY

Neither candidate is interested in stopping the use of the death penalty for federal or state crimes.

Neither candidate is interested in eliminating or reducing the 5,113 US nuclear warheads.

Neither candidate is campaigning to close Guantanamo prison.

Neither candidate has called for arresting and prosecuting high ranking people on Wall Street for the subprime mortgage catastrophe.

Neither candidate is interested in holding anyone in the Bush administration accountable for the torture committed by US personnel against prisoners in Guantanamo or in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Neither candidate is interested in stopping the use of drones to assassinate people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia.

Neither candidate is interested in fighting for a living wage. In fact neither are really committed beyond lip service to raising the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour – which, if it kept pace with inflation since the 1960s should be about $10 an hour.

Neither candidate was interested in arresting Osama bin Laden and having him tried in court.

Neither candidate will declare they refuse to bomb Iran.

Neither candidate is refusing to take huge campaign contributions from people and organizations.

Neither candidate is talking about the over 2 million people in jails and prisons in the US.

Neither candidate proposes to create public jobs so everyone who wants to work can.

Neither candidate opposes the nuclear power industry. In fact both support expansion.

Bill Quigley

When living in a nation in which its president can decide unilaterally to have someone imprisoned indefinitely without ever having to announce formal charges or provide evidence of unlawful behavior one is always vulnerable. Thanks to Obama we now live in such a country. In fact he can even have citizens killed without having to officially divulge the specific threats the person posed. If this is not scary or antithetical to the very concepts that our country was founded on, than I don’t know what is.

The following article points out how easy it would be for a caring, peaceful and thoughtful citizen such as myself to become labeled as a terrorist or a threat to our nation. It appears being a suspected terrorist is far easier than being labeled a communist in the 50’s or being labeled a public enemy like John Lennon was for espousing peace and love. In today’s america you don’t have to demonstrate, or even challenge, all you have to do is ask questions and you too can be red flagged as a terrorist.